The camera seems great, but the pedigree of some images is murky.

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Microsoft and Nokia announced the flagship Windows Phone handset, the Nokia Lumia 920, at a press event in New York City on Wednesday. Just like the lack of grounding that plagued the end of the announcement (no pricing, dates, or availability information), the presenters on the show floor were extremely stingy when it came to letting us get our paws on the device. But we got a few touches in.

The yellow and red Lumia 920 both have glossy plastic bodies, while the black uses a matte finish (not quite as rubberized as the Lumia 900). The screens are curved glass, and the top and bottom edges don't have the same taper as the Lumia 900 did.

The Lumia 920 is a bit larger in both directions, to accommodate the slightly larger 4.5-inch screen. While none of the phones shown were final production models, the screen seemed to have poor viewing angles when rotated top to bottom; side-to-side, we saw very little dimming.

We only saw two demos on the show floor, one of which demonstrated the NFC capabilities of various charging and audio accessories for the Lumia 920. All worked as promised: touch the phone to the surface and it either starts charging or pairs automatically with the set of headphones or speaker for music playback.

A second demo for the camera exhibited the low-light capabilities of the camera, with photos taken with flash, without flash on the Lumia 920's PureView camera, and without flash on a competing smartphone camera. The PureView camera's low-light performance did make it much easier to see the subject of the photo as well as her surroundings.

However, with that feature turned on, it was impossible to tell that the photo was taken at night, which was a bit disorienting to us. It also created phantom light sources, as if there were a floodlight shining a few feet in front of the subject. Likewise, the sky was an apocalyptic white, yet seemed to cast no light on the subject.

(Update: the integrity of several of Nokia's demo photos for the Lumia 920 has been called into question. Youssef Sarhan has pointed out that certain photos purportedly taken with the Lumia 920 have some graphic impossibilities, and GSMArena has claimed the park photos above to be suspect, precisely because of the unusual lighting sources we noted. Nokia has already admitted to and apologized for using a simulated demo video for the Lumia 920's image stabilization, but has yet to address the images. We've reached out for comment on this matter.)

Enlarge/ These photos were taken of the same scenario; top, a Lumia 920, bottom, our iPhone 4S.

In a real-life demo, a presenter invited us to take a picture in a dark, enclosed space with our own iPhone 4S, to compare to a shot he took with the Lumia 920. The difference in results was very impressive.

Whatever positive notes the Lumia 920 may have, it still seems like little more than a pipe dream to us without pricing, concrete release dates, or availability info. Microsoft has promised to release this info in the fourth quarter of this year.

The first PureView camera in the Nokia PureView 808 clocked in at a whopping 41 megapixels. But Nokia has been insisting that PureView is not about specific camera hardware or megapixel count; it's about using hardware and software to produce the best possible photographs. The camera in the Lumia 920 may disappoint those who were hoping for another 41 megapixels to oversample, but the Lumia 920 arguably makes up for this with impressive low-light photography. As we are now a developed civilization and spend a good deal of our time indoors, a camera that excels at low light has enormous appeal, particularly for night owls, barflies, and party-goers. It may not grab the same headlines, but it could well be more useful.

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it was impossible to tell that that photo was taken at night, which was a bit disorienting to us. It also created phantom light sources, like there was a floodlight shining a few feet in front of the subject. Likewise, the sky was an apolcalyptic white, yet seemed to cast no light on the subject.

What you're seeing is the light that's actually present in the scene, probably with some tone-mapping thrown in to even out the contrast. I suspect it's the tone-mapping (functionally similar to 'HDR') that's confusing you.

Quote:

Hopefully this means that trend in "megapixels == betterqualityomg" is finally dying?

I sincerely hope not. As Nokia have shown, there's a lot more you can do with lots of megapixels than creating ridiculously large photos. I still hold out hope that pixel density will reach the point needed for Lightfield cameras to take decent pictures.

Actually, you're both right (in a sense).

Pixel density can actually degrade image quality, if the sensor is tiny. Eventually you get to the point that while you have tons of pixels per inch, those pixels are little more than noise, rather than details. Higher amounts of megapixels become important only when your image sensor is correspondingly larger.

For a phone camera, a balance must be struck. If the size of the sensor is bound to a specific size (which they tend to be, especially in phone cameras), then it's better to cap off at a lower megapixel count and make sure everything else works phenominally. Which I think Nokia realized and is doing.

Think the whole point is that the light in the "lumia" tree in park scene wasn't present in the non lumia shot (this is not certain but seems likely).Reading the blog analysis (and the fact that they faked the videos without the 'simulated' rider) Someone in marketing needs to get fired...

In the UK that OIS advert would almost certainly have fallen foul of our deceptive advertising laws.

Here's the 'competing phone' pic with some exposure boost and moderate tone-mapping:

There's nothing in the shadows except noise, but the areas that got above the noise-floor show the same light distribution as in the Nokia pic. So I think it's genuine.

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Casey Johnston
Casey Johnston is the former Culture Editor at Ars Technica, and now does the occasional freelance story. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Applied Physics. Twitter@caseyjohnston

129 Reader Comments

Ahh. I love this article. It isn't your run in the mill "Hail Apple" stuff that I've been seeing come out of Ars. I'm going to get bashed for saying that, but I think it's true to some extent.

"But Nokia has been insisting that PureView is not about specific camera hardware or megapixel count; its about using hardware and software to produce the best possible photographs. "

Also this is the first time I've seen a hardware manufacturer care about how its hardware/software work together versus megapixel count. Hopefully this means that trend in "megapixels == betterqualityomg" is finally dying?

Is it just me or does it seem like Microsoft turned Nokia into what Google did with Samsung/HTC? There's a lot of parallels going on and its really making me wonder about things.

Also this is the first time I've seen a hardware manufacturer care about how its hardware/software work together versus megapixel count. Hopefully this means that trend in "megapixels == betterqualityomg" is finally dying?

Don't think I've ever seen Apple tout the number of megapixels in their phones. They tout the quality of the image. And you're right, that's the way it should be. But there are countless idiots who look at a spec sheet as their measure of which is better.

Whatever positive notes the Lumia 920 may have, it still seems like little more than a pipe dream to us without pricing, concrete release dates, or availability info. Microsoft has promised to release this info in the third quarter of this year.

Also this is the first time I've seen a hardware manufacturer care about how its hardware/software work together versus megapixel count. Hopefully this means that trend in "megapixels == betterqualityomg" is finally dying?

Don't think I've ever seen Apple tout the number of megapixels in their phones. They tout the quality of the image.

That may be simply because (from what I recall) Apple has been generally behind their competitors in pixel-count, it's just to their disadvantage to push for that comparison to be made in the first place (while they can argue for having a better image quality).

These phones look fantastic from what I've seen so far. I'm not sure I'm on board with the choice of glossy plastic for the body though. It makes the phone look really cheap and Fisher-Price-y in the photos. I suspect most people will go for the matte black.

it was impossible to tell that that photo was taken at night, which was a bit disorienting to us. It also created phantom light sources, like there was a floodlight shining a few feet in front of the subject. Likewise, the sky was an apolcalyptic white, yet seemed to cast no light on the subject.

What you're seeing is the light that's actually present in the scene, probably with some tone-mapping thrown in to even out the contrast. I suspect it's the tone-mapping (functionally similar to 'HDR') that's confusing you.

Quote:

Hopefully this means that trend in "megapixels == betterqualityomg" is finally dying?

I sincerely hope not. As Nokia have shown, there's a lot more you can do with lots of megapixels than creating ridiculously large photos. I still hold out hope that pixel density will reach the point needed for Lightfield cameras to take decent pictures.

Also this is the first time I've seen a hardware manufacturer care about how its hardware/software work together versus megapixel count. Hopefully this means that trend in "megapixels == betterqualityomg" is finally dying?

Don't think I've ever seen Apple tout the number of megapixels in their phones. They tout the quality of the image.

That may be simply because (from what I recall) Apple has been generally behind their competitors in pixel-count, it's just to their disadvantage to push for that comparison to be made in the first place (while they can argue for having a better image quality).

Yeah, exactly. And most reviews of previous iPhones noted that the camera was at or near the top of the class. The iPhone 4 was especially praised. When you get to a certain threshold, pixels don't matter as much as the lens used to take the photo or the software used to process it.

Whatever positive notes the Lumia 920 may have, it still seems like little more than a pipe dream to us without pricing, concrete release dates, or availability info. Microsoft has promised to release this info in the third quarter of this year.

"Whatever positive notes the Lumia 920 may have, it still seems like little more than a pipe dream to us without pricing, concrete release dates, or availability info. Microsoft has promised to release this info in the fourth quarter of this year."

Seriously give me that thing with Android please. How hard can it be? If I was a Nokia shareholder I would hit them over the head for their deal with the devil that was going all MS. Samsung was a smaller company a couple years ago (in the phone business, of course they do have more external resources) and they manage to release Android and Windows Phone handsets as well if they do not want to go all-in with Android.

Interesting phones and worth considering, even if they are a Windows Phone. That said, the color and finishing of both the yellow and red Lumia remind me of those molded plastic chairs of the 60's and 70's

Think the whole point is that the light in the "lumia" tree in park scene wasn't present in the non lumia shot (this is not certain but seems likely).Reading the blog analysis (and the fact that they faked the videos without the 'simulated' rider) Someone in marketing needs to get fired...

In the UK that OIS advert would almost certainly have fallen foul of our deceptive advertising laws.

Also this is the first time I've seen a hardware manufacturer care about how its hardware/software work together versus megapixel count. Hopefully this means that trend in "megapixels == betterqualityomg" is finally dying?

Do you read about other flagship phones? The SGS3 and HTC One X both had special camera software for better results.